Atlantic Lumley Hotel, Aberdeen Beach, Freetown, Sierra Leone
5th April 2023
Commissioner of ECOWAS, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, I bring you greetings and good will messages from His Excellency the President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, Rtd. Brigadier Dr. Julius Maada Bio, the government and people of the Republic Sierra Leone.
Allow me to personally express my gratitude and that of the Government and People of Sierra Leone to the ECOWAS Commission for availing us the singular honour to host this 2nd Ministerial Steering and Expert Committee meeting in Sierra Leone.
This meeting provides an excellent opportunity for member state to create ownership as well create strategic alliances with the private sector as we continue to progress the development of this critical sub-regional project.
Mr Commissioner of ECOWAS, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, We are more especially grateful to be given this opportunity to participate in this critical regional initiative that will address the vulnerabilities in the existing single submarine cable.
I am pleased to note that this is not our first ECOWAS regional project we are participating in as we currently benefiting from the West Africa Power Pool through the Cote d’vior, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea power line. We have also participated in the West Africa Regional Rice project. There are other projects in the health sector giving us sufficient experience in these kinds of regional project design and implementation.
The Commissioner of ECOWAS, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, I also wish to personally commend the ECOWAS Commission and in particular the Project Preparatory Development Unit (PPDU) for conceiving this project which is so relevant to all of us having only a single cable as we create the enabling environment to expand broadband technologies.
The project will support the Government in developing a strategic approach to addressing the potential risk of having a single submarine cable, as well as to better leverage the potential capacities it will bring to improved efficiency of the broadband market in Sierra Leone. This project will not only provide redundances for our existing single submarine cables but will go a long way to increasing broadband penetration in the participating countries as well promote regional integration through digital communications and on line trade facilitations thereby facilitating the creation of a single digital market in the ECOWAS region.
Commissioner of ECOWAS, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, The Sierra Leone Digital Economy Country Diagnostic report recently published by the world bank highlighted both areas of relative strength in terms of digital government, especially in the areas of Digital Ecosystem, Leadership and Governance, Cybersecurity, Privacy and Resilience, as well also highlighting some significant gaps in digital Infrastructure, skills and Funding. To address these challenges, we have recently developed a National Digital Development Policy and Strategy based on the AU Digital Transformation for Africa, the Smart Africa Digital Economy Blue and the ECOWAS harmonised policies on Digital Economy.
This is in line with the Government agenda of developing a resilient and affordable Digital Ecosystem to achieve His EXCELLENCY’s vision of transforming Sierra Leone into an inclusive digital economy and society with a digitally empowered citizenry supporting sustainable economic development, democracy, national security, and good governance. Mr. Commissioner of ECOWAS, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, the Government recognised that The level, scale and speed of socio-economic development required for Sierra Leone to transform to a digital economy cannot take place without the necessary modern digital infrastructure required for the delivery of digital services.
The Government is committed to creating a conducive environment to ensure appropriate digital infrastructure and platforms are in place that will promote affordable access to digital services, especially for the underserved and unserved communities. The country has made significant efforts including liberalization of the market through the development a new Electronic Communications Acts which promote, open access, infrastructure sharing technology neutrality to allow competition in the market.
Mr. Commissioner of ECOWAS, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, the Government through the Ministry of Information and Communications has since 2018, embarked on bold andambitious reforms aimed at increasing the uptake and use of digital technologies, expanding internet access, promoting the development of local online content, and emphasizing government use of internet and data to improve service delivery, transparency, and governance.
We have also continued to develop and strengthened the capacities of the relevant institutions as well as create new ones that will coordinate digital development across Government, harmonised and coordinate the private sector roles and create partnerships to support government’s digital development agenda. We have also embarked on strong and agile policies and regulatory reform initiatives including promoting the involvement of local companies in digital innovation and entrepreneurship as well as to attract foreign direct investment into the sector.
Mr. Commissioner of ECOWAS, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, Let me end my statement by extending on behalf of H.E President Bio, and the Government appreciations to our private sector partners for their continued investment in the sector especially as we see increase in the number of Internet users from 0.37 million people in 2017 to about 2.67 million users as of 2022 more than a 70% increase with a growth rate of approximately 20% YoY.
At this rate we are expected to get an additional 1.6M in 2023 bringing out total connected close to about 50% of our population.
This will lead to an increase in demand for services equally increasing the demand for digital. To continue to improve on these indices, I am pleased to inform you that, after two years of strategic engagement with the World Bank we have sign the financing agreement with the World Bank for a 5-year IDA grant of 50M Digital transformation Project with aim of supporting Government’s effort to transition our economy to a digital one.
The project development object is to expand access to broadband internet, increase digital skills and improve government capacity to deliver public services digitally. The project will support a strong enabling environment for the nation’s digital transformation and digital development agenda as articulated in the National Digital development Strategy.
I now have the Honour to officially declare the 2nd Ministerial Steering Committee meeting open and wish you all a fruitful deliberation. I Thank You
